Lewis Hamilton was out-qualified by George Russell at the Monaco GP. But that was understandable as Russell had the upgrades whereas Hamilton didn’t. However, coming into the Canadian GP, the hopes were high for the 7X champion because of his record at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. But mysteriously, Hamilton lost the advantage to George Russell in equal machinery. What really happened to Lewis Hamilton?

Lewis Hamilton is tied for the record of the most successful driver around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with Michael Schumacher. Both the 7X champs have 7 wins each around the circuit. Before the 2024 qualifying, Hamilton had never qualified outside the Top 5 at the circuit in Montreal. The Briton seemed to be on it during the practice as well, looking menacingly quick, but to no avail.

With Hamilton getting the full upgrade package that Russell got in Monaco, many expected the 7X champ to bounce back and beat his teammate. Unfortunately, the prediction did not age well. George Russell once again beat his teammate in qualifying as he took the pole position while Hamilton finished the session in P7, almost 3 tenths off the pole sitter’s pace. 

Speaking with the media after the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton revealed how he wasn’t able to find the grip in qualifying while everything looked great in practice. Hamilton said, “The car had been feeling great all weekend. I mean firstly congratulations to George, he did a great job. It’s really great for the team. Everyone at the factory worked so hard to get the upgrades.”

Talking about the change of feeling between FP3 and Qualifying, Hamilton added, “Car was feeling great all weekend and as soon as I got to qualifying that kind of vanished for me. The grip just disappeared for me. FP3, I had plenty of pace and then got to qualifying, the tires don’t work.” When asked if any changes were made to the car, he shook his head and replied, “Nothing changed on the car.”

Where do you think Lewis Hamilton’s pace vanished? Looks like Hamilton jinxed himself after what he said at the Monaco GP qualifying. But what did he say?

Lewis Hamilton doesn’t expect to out-qualify George Russell for the remaining 2024 season

After the Canadian GP pole, George Russell has extended his lead in the qualifying head-to-head beating Lewis Hamilton 8 times on Saturday compared to just being beaten once by the 7X champ in Miami. There seems to be transpiring behind the scenes at Mercedes as after the Monaco GP qualifying, Hamilton revealed that he doesn’t expect to beat Russell in qualifying anymore.

After being out-qualified by Russell at Monaco, Lewis Hamilton said, “We just got to keep on pushing. We’ll slowly get closer through the year as more upgrades come. I don’t anticipate being ahead of George in qualifying, particularly this year. But we just gotta keep pushing. The races are strong.” When the reporter asked, “All Year?” Lewis Hamilton Shrugged his head in disappointment and said, “We’ll see.”

What do you think is going on at Mercedes? Is Hamilton just lacking qualifying pace compared to Russell or is there more to it?